Most currently fielded Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) robots are equipped with radio-controlled firing circuits, these are only considered safe for a small subset of operations due to the risk of accidental ignition. Instead, most EOD teams normally use non-electric ignition of countercharges to dispose of hostile Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) Non-electric ignition requires a robot to drag a small plastic shock-tube hundreds of feet from the control unit to the IED The shock tube can be damaged by obstacles or other causes, greatly reducing reliability of the charge, and often becomes wound in the robot's tracks, crippling the robot and exposing the EOD technicians to danger in order to complete the mission and recover the robot under extremely hazardous conditions, risking mission failure, and potentially injury and fatalities to the Warfighter and/or robot.
Additionally, placing the countercharge in a manipulator limits the robot's maneuverability and flexibility, as the manipulator cannot be used for its normally intended functions. A few other systems have been developed which allow for the spool to be carried by the robot, but none of them allow for remote detonation from the robot. The system disclosed herein allows for such remote detonation.